The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-19
The Sunday School.
DRUNKENNESS.
GGenesis tx. 1921

meaning generation and hence beginning or
origin. 1t begins with an account of the Di-
vine origin of the world, and the creation of
man, the child of COP. 1t gives an account
of the introduction of sin into the world by
the seductive influence and power of temp
tation, and of the first murder, the result of
unrestrained passion. 1t describes the re-
population of the earth after the violently
wicked inhabitants had been destroyed by
the Flood. 1t tells the story of the call and
migration of Abraham, the founder of the
Hebrew race, who established in the world
the worship of the Zone only Living and
True GoD," who is Eternal, Incorruptible
and Invisible" Our Lesson contains the
first record of drunkenness, if not, indeed,
the record of the first drunkenness. The
account of Noah's drunkenness is not given,
however, to declare the beginning of the his
tory of the great evil of intemperance in the
world, but because il was the occasion that
revealed the moral characteristics of his sons,
and gave him that insight into their future
history that determined the destinies which
he should declare for them. Ham, the
youngest of the three SONS, or, at least,
younger than Shem, ridiculed and made light
of his father when he discovered his drunken
condition as he lay shamefully exposed in his
tent, and thereby revealed the sensuality and
irreverence of his character and disposition.
Shem and Japheth, when they learned of
their fathers disgraced condition, with rev.
erent modesty covered bis disgrace from
view. The moral tendencies of the sons dis
played upon the occasion are made to &C.
count for the subsequent history of their
descendants, who overspreed the whole earth.
Canaan, the son of Ham, who may already
have been walking in the steps of his fathers
impiety and sensuality, was condemned to
lowest servitude. The moral characteristics
of race are frequently determined by their
ancestors. The curse of GoD falls only on
those who disobey Him. An inheritance of
religious blessing was foreshadowed for
Shem. Among his descendants was the He
brew race, through whom has the true COP
been revealed. The European peoples sprang
from Japheth, and have spread themselves
over two continents, sharing also in the re-
ligious blessings that have flown from the
Abrahamic faith. Most Christian peoples
are Japhethites dwelling in the tents of Shem.
The descendants of Canaan have been the
dependents of both the other races. They
were long the servants of the Israelites, the
people Of COP. The Old Testament Script
ures contain mainly record of the revela-
ton of GoD in the religious history of this
people. The account of the drunkenness of
the patriarch Noah records an incident in
this history, and is apparently given to ex-
plain the destnies which he declared to his
sons according to an apparently patriarchal
custom, or to introduce the historical notice
of their descendants which follows.
Noah, we are told, was a husbandman, that
is, farmer, one who supported his family
from the products of the soil-the fruit and
grains of the earth. After the Flood he be-
gan the cultivation of the vine and the growth
of grapes. The grapevine is native to the
highlands of Armenia, where the ark is sup
posed to have rested after the flood. He
drank of the wine which he produced, and
was drunken. The fermented juice of the
grape, and, indeed, of all fruits and grains,
and most vegetables, contains alcohol, and
is Intoxicating. The juice of the grape is
and when fermented is intoxicating, and is
a common cause of drunkenness among
farmers of our day. The wine of grain is
called beer or ale. Beer drinking produces
much of the drunkenness of modern times,
especially among the poor and working peo-
pie in cities and villages. Distilled liquors
contain greater per cent of alcohol, and
are, therefore, more powerful intoxicants.
They are called brandies, especially when
produced from fruit. The brandy of grain
is called whisky. Rum is the distilled pro-
duct of vegetable juices, chiefly of sugar
cane.
Noah was degraded, disgraced and humili-
ated by his drunkenness. 1t may have been
an entirely unexpected result of his excessive
use of the wine, and in no wise wilful, or the
result of deprayed appetite. The drunk
enness of our time is the more degraded and
degrading and shameful, because it is fire.
quently deliberate and wilful, and usually
the result of depraved appetite formed by
excessive indulgence in alcoholic drinks or
inherited from Incorporate parents, or both.
From the day when Noah drank of the
wine and was drunken, to our own time, in
temperance has been one of the great evils
that has afflicted mankind. From the be-
ginning to the end, the Bible abounds in
COMBINATIONS of drunkenness and in warn
ings against the use of intoxicating wines.
The drunkard is excluded from the kingdom
of heaven, as drunkenness disqualifes the
indwelling spirit of COP. The fresh, sweet
juices of the fruits are, of course, harmless
and are useful and nutritious articles of
food. This is the wine "that maketh glad
the heart of man." a blessing from Him who
fills our mouths with food and our hearts
with gladness luke xiv. 10. Our modern
wines and brandies are harmful when used
as common beverages, and are of the class
that fall under the Divine condemnation.
Their use causes the wretched and degrading
drunkenness, and consequent poverty, crime
and misery, of our times, and binders the
progress and happiness of mankind. Intern
perapee and the business that fosters it are
gigantic evils TO be overcome in the moral
and spiritual regeneration of the world.
They are among the chief obstacles to Chris
tianity, and prevail chiefly among Christian
peoples. The enormity of the evils which in-
temperance produces and occasions is too
apparent arc we'll known to require any de-
scription or even statement These evils are
SO widespread and far reaching in their
effects that no statement or description could
be complete or adequate, however compre-
hensive and appalling it might be. The evil